Ive spent a fair share of time lurking/posting on various forums at various gaming sites in my day, likely in the same fashion many of you have. And in that time Ive noticed a few trends. One particular seems to be a disdain for the 'casual gamer'. These are the people that buy Madden NFL ever year, and almost nothing else. They play WoW, and nothing else. Maybe they bought a Wii, and have yet to take Wii Sports out of the system yet.
Casual gamers are blamed as the force behind many annoying realities of the games industry. When a game is critically praised but has low sales numbers, its because casual gamers didn't buy it. And yes, I'm talking about Psychonauts, but that's not the only example. Okami and Shadow of the Colossus stand out in my mind as well.
On the reverse, when a game that is regarded by reviewers as mediocre or worse but has good, sometimes great sales numbers, its because 'casual gamers' eat that kinda crap up, especially if it has a famous movie or celebrity attached. (See 50 Cent: Bulletproof, Scarface: The World is Yours, and Superman Returns).
The truth of the matter is that yes, casual gamers didn't buy Psychonauts, which is a great game. And yes, instead of Psychonauts, those casual gamers bought copies of Superman Returns, which is a horrid game.
So would we be better off without these so-called cretins, blind to innovation and quality gameplay, slavishly buying the next Madden, Need for Speed, World War II shooter, or movie tie-in game.
No, we wouldn't. We, the 'hardcore' gamer, cannot support the gaming industry alone. We don't have enough numbers or spending power. Casual gamers however, do. There are millions of them, and they spend millions of dollars pursuing their casual gaming hobby. It's those millions that drive profits, and its those profits that can then allow a company to take a risk and make games like Psychonauts or Okami.
So, next time you go to Best Buy or Gamestop and see a guy buying a copy of Madden NFL or Spider-man 3, don't mumble something nasty under your breath. Shake that man's hand, and thank him for playing those games so you don't have too.
-g
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Saturday, May 19, 2007
A Note From Your Editors
First of all hello and welcome to The Awful Truthiness. We hope you've stumbled across us by accident, and we now have at least managed to garner your immediate interest, otherwise this will most likely be the last word you read here.
Now that those losers are gone, we would like to extend a sincere welcome to anyone who is interested in Video Games; news, previews, reviews, and editorials on the state of the industry. Our particular area of expertise will be in the review department, since lack of funding limits our ability to get exclusives with big name companies (so far, but we're cheap and easy if you're interested). But that should bode well for our readers, because, just like you, we are two normal people, who have decided to voice our opinions on our passions, which for the most part consist of video games. We own all major platforms between the two of us, except for a PS3 and a PSP, but there in again lies the lack of funding.
There are two people contributing to this blog, we will proof and edit for each other mostly, but will also be doing some two part reviews, or as some might call it, a second opinion. Being best friends allows us to share some ideas and thoughts, but also allows us to have wildly varying preferences when it comes to gaming. But not so wildly that we will lead you astray on games that you really shouldn't waste your time with. We will be using a rating scale that will be easy, even for those of you that can't count past 10, because luckily our rating scale will be a max score of 10! This will include information on other important aspects of the game, such as the technical aspects of the game's overall design, story, and appearance aspects, such as graphics and sound. The ratings will not be designated however on scores from each one of these elements however, as much as it will be an overall subjective rating made by the reviewer.
Well, that's all the crap I think I'm obligated to say, so welcome, and we hope you stick around.
-j
Now that those losers are gone, we would like to extend a sincere welcome to anyone who is interested in Video Games; news, previews, reviews, and editorials on the state of the industry. Our particular area of expertise will be in the review department, since lack of funding limits our ability to get exclusives with big name companies (so far, but we're cheap and easy if you're interested). But that should bode well for our readers, because, just like you, we are two normal people, who have decided to voice our opinions on our passions, which for the most part consist of video games. We own all major platforms between the two of us, except for a PS3 and a PSP, but there in again lies the lack of funding.
There are two people contributing to this blog, we will proof and edit for each other mostly, but will also be doing some two part reviews, or as some might call it, a second opinion. Being best friends allows us to share some ideas and thoughts, but also allows us to have wildly varying preferences when it comes to gaming. But not so wildly that we will lead you astray on games that you really shouldn't waste your time with. We will be using a rating scale that will be easy, even for those of you that can't count past 10, because luckily our rating scale will be a max score of 10! This will include information on other important aspects of the game, such as the technical aspects of the game's overall design, story, and appearance aspects, such as graphics and sound. The ratings will not be designated however on scores from each one of these elements however, as much as it will be an overall subjective rating made by the reviewer.
Well, that's all the crap I think I'm obligated to say, so welcome, and we hope you stick around.
-j
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)